Belgium went from winning the group to completely embarrassing themselves within an hour.

I’m starting to think the two baldies complemented each other, but Henry and Martinez separated are both bald frauds.

Wait wuuuuuuuuuuut, the hell just happened there? Thanks for posting, I was going to sleep knowing that Belgium are crusing in the Alps (ahem). Can we get the Swiss-hating Rambleforce members to get off their back, now?

A few notes after the weekend:

- did you see Mitrovic’s finish for his goal v Montenegro?

- this may be the first time in my life when I haven’t previously heard of the player who just scored for Spain

- I wonder if the Congo derby was a juicy event

- watch this space, the Comoros seem ahead of schedule and, depending on the draw, they might qualify for the *next* AFCON

Speaking for myself only: yes

Weren’t you leader of the brigade?

Yes, but the reason for it was their perpetual dull-ness, they helped counter that with the game against Serbia at the World Cup (though reverted to type in defeat against Sweden) and smashing 5 past Belgium is anything but boring. Just need them to lose to England in the finals for the transformation to be complete

Still to be decided in March:
- Burundi will qualify for the first time should the avoid defeat at home to Gabon, who will pinch the spot with a win

- One of Benin (7 pts), Togo (5) and Gambia (5) will make it. Togo have head to head over Gambia, while Gambia have it over Benin. Final games are Algeria v Gambia and Benin v Togo, so Benin are pretty heavy favourites

- If Libya can beat South Africa at home they’ll qualify at Bafana Bafana’s expense, who only need a draw

- Two of Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone will qualify - the spanner in the works here is that after everyone had played twice Sierra Leone were suspended for the dreaded “government interference”, so all 4 teams have played different numbers of games with no decision having been taken yet. You can never be sure with CAF but given there is only one break left before the tournament and Sierra Leone have 4 games to play I think they’ll be formally excluded and their results expunged, which would leave a 3 team group with Kenya and Ghana already qualified. Even I can’t be arsed to work out the permutations of SL being allowed back in.

- A terrific group where Zimbabwe (8 points), Liberia (7), DR Congo (6) and Congo (5) all qualify with a win in their final match, which will be Zimbabwe v Congo and DR Congo v Liberia. Zimbabwe have the head to head over DR Congo so only need a draw to go through, but Congo hold it over Liberia, so Liberia need a win to 100% confirm it. Ooooooh #permutations

- Burkina Faso (who hold the head to head advantage) have to make up 2 points on Angola in the final game to pinch a spot at the tournament. Burkina host surprise qualifiers Mauritania while Angola visit eliminated Botswana.

- Guinea-Bissau (8 points) host Mozambique (7 points) while Namibia (8 points) visit eliminated Zambia. Guinea-Bissau hold h2h over Namibia, who themselves hold it over Mozambique, meaning that both G-B and Namibia qualify with a draw but Mozambique will qualify with a win, knocking out Namibia if they lose to Zambia and G-B otherwise.

- Finally, Tanzania had the chance yesterday to qualify for the first time since 1982, all they had to do was beat minnows Lesotho away. They lost. So the race for 2nd behind Uganda is now Lesotho (5), Tanzania (5 - Lesotho with the h2h), Cape Verde (4). Tanzania host qualified Uganda and Lesotho go to Cape Verde knowing they’ll qualify for the first time with a win, Cape Verde know they have to win and hope Tanzania don’t to make it.

D’oh I should have watched the second half of Germany - Netherlands as well instead of switching to dishwashing

So, Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal and England are the final four of the Nation’s League, of which only one was also one of the four European teams making up the World Cup semifinal line-up just a few months ago. Damn it’s competitive at the top. I would normally root for the Dutch now, but the prospect of a rematch of the Portugal - England 2004 quarter final is soooo appealing…

D’oh I should have watched the second half of Germany - Netherlands as well instead of switching to dishwashing

So, Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal and England are the final four of the Nation’s League, of which only one was also one of the four European teams making up the World Cup semifinal line-up just a few months ago. Damn it’s competitive at the top. I would normally root for the Dutch now, but the prospect of a rematch of the Portugal - England 2004 quarter final is soooo appealing…

My first thought seeing the lineup is how very Euro 2004 it is, especially given it’s being held in Portugal. I can’t wait, and I’m also very excited for the playoffs even if they’re 16 months away

Arabic commentary of Egypt - Tunisia 3-2 worth a play even if for only the last part and the winning goal (“Mohammed Salah Superman Allah Allah Allah”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXB7stLUh34 Decent goal as well. Is everything fine now between Salah and the Egyptian FA?

Arabic commentary of Egypt - Tunisia 3-2 worth a play even if for only the last part and the winning goal (“Mohammed Salah Superman Allah Allah Allah”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXB7stLUh34 Decent goal as well. Is everything fine now between Salah and the Egyptian FA?

To be more precise, Egyptian commentary of the Egypt-Tunisia game. You can tell because his enthusiasm just dies when it’s a Tunisia goal.

It’s more the other way round - those teams are all officially promoted but technically nobody is in the playoff yet as it isn’t decided until the qualifiers happen.

The Nations League decides a final 4 (to be played June 2019) to crown the inaugural Nations League champions. Euro qualifiers happen from March-November 2019 (excluding June for the groups with 5 teams in rather than 6) deciding 20/24 qualifiers for Euro 2020. The remaining 4 places then come from the playoffs (March 2020) which are decided exclusively by the Nations League results, one playoff for each of the Leagues A, B, C and D. The automatic qualifiers for the playoffs are the 4 winners of each group within the league, but if that team has already qualified for the tournament through the regular qualifiers then their place in the playoff goes to the next best team in their league.

Given it’s likely that more than 8/12 League A teams will qualify automatically, the spots in the League A playoffs would go to League B teams who haven’t qualified automatically but *aren’t* winners of their group within League B as group winners are fixed in their leagues playoffs, to avoid having a great campaign and then being bumped up to the next playoff to get a spanking off France or someone.

- Two of Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone will qualify - the spanner in the works here is that after everyone had played twice Sierra Leone were suspended for the dreaded “government interference”, so all 4 teams have played different numbers of games with no decision having been taken yet. You can never be sure with CAF but given there is only one break left before the tournament and Sierra Leone have 4 games to play I think they’ll be formally excluded and their results expunged, which would leave a 3 team group with Kenya and Ghana already qualified. Even I can’t be arsed to work out the permutations of SL being allowed back in.

In a shock turn of events, I’ve successfully predicted a CAF decision, Sierra Leone are DQ’ed and hence Kenya and Ghana qualify with a game to spare. The tournament has also been taken away from Cameroon and sounds likely to go to South Africa and their 10% full stadiums - hooray.

I think it’s absolutely pathetic that no broadcaster is bothering with it and will be getting involved with as much dodgy stream action as possible! Especially looking forward to Turkmenistan v Uzbekistan next Sunday. I’m an absolute pervert for some Stan on Stan action!

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